Heart of Beijing

Sunday, June 17, 2012

We were the first English-language China blog to write about the story of the 27-year-old in Shaanxi who was forced to abort at seven months. It broke on the same day that RFH took the opportunity to joke about the gaokao: real questions were uncovered, and they were ridiculous. Also, Louis CK has left the building. Here's our review by RFH.

Chengguan have had a bad week. Kids went "clockwork orange" on them, as Jeremiah Jenne tweeted on Twitter, referring to this story about a chengguan being overwhelmed by a mob of middle school students. That same day, we wrote about poor Josh Garcia, chengguan tool. And here's a chengguan truck on fire. If only chengguan were caught on tape doing what this foreigner in Chengdu did -- directing traffic to let an ambulance through -- maybe their reputation would improve. By the way, where were the chengguan when someone from the US embassy got assaulted outside Elements nightclub in Beijing?

Just as we were talking about men rescuing toddlers from balconies, a three-year-old in Shenzhen died after falling from her fourth-story balcony. And here's a deputy police chief in Yunnan possibly intentionally wrecking someone. Tom Grundy of Hong Wrong, which we've linked to in our East is Read column, tried to arrest Tony Blair in Hong Kong. And The Good Doctor reviewed The Medullary Paralysis show in Beijing -- stolen, one might say, by its as-yet-unidentified opening act.

The weather's been somewhere between very good and spectacular this week in Beijing. Go outside and enjoy yourself. We'll still be here when you come back.

The Huffington Post, Business Insider and Bloomberg TV did shitty journalism this week. RFH wrote about Eva Cohen's fishy guest post over at Foreign Policy (the picture gave us the opportunity to quote Shaft). We ranted about Chinese officials telling the US to stop monitoring Beijing's air, and this China Daily story that glorifies a Sanlitun cop for all the wrong reasons.

A bus driver in Hangzhou who was fatally wounded by debris but continued to do his job has been declared a hero. Bizarrely, a bus in Beijing did unspeakable things to a police car, leaving one dead. The activist Li Wangwang was found dead in a hospital room, and his friends and family think foul play was involved (authorities say it was suicide).

Louis CK performed in Beijing tonight. Sorry if you missed out on tickets -- we gave you a one- or two-hour window to buy. Predictably, they sold out fast. If you were at the show, I'd love to hear about how it was -- drop me a note at tao@beijingcream.com. Thank you for reading.

On Friday evening, Kris Pickett took a video of a protester in Xidan being pushed off a pedestrian bridge onto a bouncy tarp, then taken away by police. Another fight between American and Chinese basketball teams broke out that same night, while a white guy spat in the face of a Chinese man in Chengdu. Earlier in the week, a Shandong college cafeteria served its students whale meat without their knowledge. A 12-year-old from the same province has earned himself the nickname "China's Messi," and here's a 70-year-old badass in Yunnan who tosses petrol bombs at those who try to evict him. If you need lighter news, try this chicken-raping dog GIF.

Yang Rui says he called Melissa Chan a "shrew," not bitch, and Chen Guangcheng is in New York. Finally, we'd like to remind everyone that nature can be a bitch sometimes, always calling at the least convenient time.

The news outlets have been so consumed by Chen that they've totally forgotten about Bo. Just this week, Bo Guagua made his first public statement in the Harvard Crimson, but all we heard was Oxford, Oxford, Oxford (there's a great comment at the end of that post). Then we photoshopped his head onto Barack Obama's body.

BJC uncovered video of another pedestrian falling through the sidewalk in China, which was immediately copied by traditional media like the Telegraph and reposted under their name. American Mike Sui imitated a bunch of people in this video, which is raking up views by the thousands. Leehom Wang sang "As Time Goes By" at the opening ceremony of the Beijing International Film Festival, but he flubbed a key line.

We upset some folks by suggesting Time Out's Food Awards are upscale... though I suspect the offending line, written by reader E, must have been, "I’m surprised that Time Out, a British-owned publication, is so interested in blowing their literary loads all over a bunch of French place"). Natsun, the friend of Jackson, the subject of a controversial "Meet an Expat" column last week, wrote a formal response. A slackline-walker crossed a canyon in Hebei, while a wingsuit-flier glided over Hunan's Highway to Hell. Here's a homemade electric car built on a farm on the outskirts of Beijing, a city that, in case you've forgotten, is hosting the China Auto Show.

And finally, here, again, is Victoria Beckham with Harper Seven at Sanlitun's Opposite Hotel -- a story still without redeeming value.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

BJC's most-commented post so far was Tuesday's "A Story About Journalism," in which I wrote about how a small Associated Press editing mistake led to a whole lot of misunderstanding and anger half a world away. This came a day after RFH's excellent Bo Xilai rumor-roundup, which came on the heels of our inaugural "Meet an Expat" column about a Tianjin foreigner who gave up his American citizenship so he could stay in this country with his Chinese wife and son. (If you haven't seen it, Jackson has posted a long reply on the post.)

There was a soccer skirmish in Qingdao earlier this week, and hopefully someone cares. This man is the best auto sports fan I've ever seen. This is the best dancer on Wangfujing, especially accompanied by that awesome music. This is the most crowded subway ever, in Japan. And this might be the best homemade Iron Man suit you'll see in China.

By the way, Lola coined the term "frivolititties" this week. If you ever see that word elsewhere, go to this post and tell us about it.

A lot of sensible websites got trolled by a fake quote, and we're still waiting for them to issue corrections. Here are pictures of Beijing emptied out. And this website has a new No. 2 post in terms of all-time views (will it catch No. 1?): meet Purple Panda!

Jason Chu is the latest to join our "Chillax" feature with the video for "City of the North," part of his Goodbye, Beijing EP. We relived the Ducks' championship two weeks ago with a collection of videos, and let ourselves get taken back to our Nintendo-playing youth in this IKEA commercial, as uncovered by Mr. Smith.

A toddler gets pulled out of a Yunnan well here, while a toddler is seen in a funny posture at Raffles Mall here. Beijingers: watch where you walk, lest you want to be boiled alive, and for the love of civility, expats, Scott Grow tells you to not piss in the streets.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Just click on the below tag "Ask Alessandro" if you have no idea what this means. As announced this afternoon on Beijing Cream, Alessandro -- the man, the myth, the legend -- will be making a joint appearance on BJC and China Daily Show next week:

Like many continental men, Alessandro will often greet other males with a kiss on each cheek, but he rarely relishes itThe sunglasses? They’re Fottore-BansDid you know? Prickly pears are 30% less prickly in Alessandro’s presenceIf Alessandro was an interrogator, your crotch would talk

Alessandro is now accepting questions. Please send to cds@chinadailyshow.com.

Have you heard? The taxi fuel surcharge is now 3 yuan. Also, Beijing is home to both the men’s and women’s champions of Chinese basketball. You can watch the Ducks’ gripping Game 5 series-clinching win in its entirety — plus other postgame videos – here. It almost makes one forget how classless the Guangdong Southern Tigers were, starting with its boss, Liu Hongjiang, who inexplicably ordered a human flesh engine search on a Beijing fan that ended up hurting an innocent woman.

Sina and QQ Weibo were ordered to shut down their commenting feature for three days for not censoring their users more closely. Meanwhile, China’s crusade against “illicit content” on the Internet has led to its newest campaign, Spring Breeze.